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Cauliflower Maklouba “Upside down cauliflower pilaf”

Have you ever cooked upside down?
Makloubeh (which translates literally into upside down) is a famous Levantine one pot rice, spice and vegetable dish. You will find different variants of it throughout Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon.

Today I am sharing my favorite version, cauliflower chicken makloubeh but you can use eggplants, a combination of eggplant and cauliflower, you can add potatoes,carrots or even chickpeas. Experiment and try different combinations and see which ones you like best.

Don’t like chicken?You can cook this using beef instead or skipping the meat altogether and making it vegetarian.

The name makloubeh or upside down refers to the way this dish is served. You see, this dish is arranged and cooked in a pot and then it is flipped upside down to be served.

A while back Kristy posted an Uzbek pilaf recipe and I told her it really reminded me of makloubeh minus the flipping. So here it is Kristy, arabic makloubeh as promised.

Before we get to the recipe, just a quick reminder to enter the sneakpeeq giveaway if you haven’t already

Wash the rice and soak it in some warm water for 15-20 minutes then drain it, discard the water.
Cut the cauliflower into florets and then fry it until golden brown (You can brush it with oil and grill it if you don’t want to fry it but honestly it tastes better fried)
In a pot add the chicken, onion , whole all spice, cardamom pods and cinnamon stick and then add enough water to submerge the chicken and rise above it by 3-4 cm
Cook the chicken until it is done (you can do this in a pressure cooker to save time, if you use a pressure cooker 3-5 minutes after it starts to whistle is more that enough) reserve the water, you will use it to cook the rice in it

To assemble the maqloubeh

In the pot you will cook it in start by adding the olive oil followed by a thin layer of rice.

Arrange the chicken on top of it and fill the gaps with rice

Add a layer of cauliflower

then top with the remaining rice

Sprinkle the salt, all spice, cinnamon and cardamom on top

Add enough of the chicken broth for it to submerge the rice and rise by 1-2 cm

Cook on very low heat, covered for 30-40 minutes (we are cooking on low heat because we don’t want it to boil and bubble because if it does it will spoil the arrangement of the layers)

Note: You can place a small plate on top of the last rice layer to help keep things in place

Allow to cool in the pot for 20-40 minutes this will help the layers hold together a little

Place your serving dish on top of the pot and flip the pot. You may tap the bottom of the pot gently to help the makloubeh slide off.

Decorate with toasted almond and chopped parsley and serve it with yogurt or a simple salad

That looks so beautiful and full of all my favourite ingredients. It´s always good when I come across a dish that uses cauliflower, as Big Man does tend to bring them back in bulk from his visits back to his mum´s village where they grow them! My parents would really enjoy this too, so will see if I get a change to give it a go while they are here. Thanks Sawsan for another great recipe!

Thank you Wins. You can use Basamat but it tastes better with short rice. The rule with Basamat is a cup and a half liquid per cup of rice.
Don’t boil the rice before layering because you want it to absorb the flavor of the vegetables and spices

Mmm… I love my mum’s maqloobeh, only that she does it with eggplants. Once she tried it with a whole bunch of different vegetables, and I just preferred the eggplant one better, but still, the other one is really nice.
I like how you arrange the eggplants on the side, we do a whole layer of round ones 🙂
A big thumbs up for flipping it perfectly! 😀 Sometimes it very sadly collapses!

I try a combination of vegetables every now and then but I go back to making it with just one vegetable
As for flipping it, I have my collapses too but I find that placing a layer or rice in the bottom and putting the vegetables in the middle helps it hold together

Malloubeh is all about the spices and the layers John. To tell you the truth I have made it with grilled eggplant but never with grilled cauliflower but many people grill instead of frying to keep it healthier

It’s like a Biriyani, I love vegetable biryani, I’m always scared the rice will burn on the bottom of the pan though. I’m not good at cooking rice I always make breads to go with my Indian & Middle Eastern dishes instead, too scared!!

Sawsan, I’ve seen upside down cake, but not with rice!!! Since I don’t know when I would make upside down “cake”, I am more willing to try this rice version! Look so cool and my kids will be thrilled if I make this… Hehee. Very, very impressive dish!

You know we used to call this the rice cake when we were kids. We would be super excited when the time came to flip it…wouldn’t life be great if we could retain the ability of kids to find joy in simple things

This is a dish I grew up on, as my mother and her family are from Jordan. Usually in my household it’s made with lamb Neck, but we prepare it with Chicken Thighs and Legs as well. We use the arabic 7 spices: Cinnamon, Allspice, Cardomom, Nutmeg, Clove, Cumin, Coriander, and of course, Salt and Pepper. We also Fried the Cauliflower (4 Large Heads) and used TONS of large onions, Sliced. The rice was Half Vermicelli and half Short Grain Rice. It still is a favorite of mine that I make alot.

Yea, we Love your fried cauliflower, plus some if it breaks up in the rice when cooking so 4 heads really doesn’t end up being alot. It’s so good! =) I think I’m gonna have to make it next week!! The Sliced onions really make it too. We never added carrot, eggplant or potato. The seven spices typically used make it the unique dish it’s meant to be. Did you ever try it with all seven spices, Sawsan?

Oh Sawsan! This looks amazing!!!!! We are definitely putting this on our list of things to make soon. Knowing how much the kids liked the Uzbek recipe, I have no doubt this one will be a winner too. And I love how it’s so easy to customize, and that it’s so hands-off. Wonderful. Thank you for the shout-out and for posting this recipe. I can’t wait to try it. I’ll let you know the spoon verdict after we eat it. 🙂

an all time classic..we make it pretty much the same .also use eggplant instead of cauliflower..the aromatic understated spiciness of cinnamon and allspice , cardamom, the layering of flavors and the rice cooked in all of this ,the succlent meat( lamb or chicken ) , the richness and crunch of the toasted nuts. sublime .the only thing differently we do when using cauliflower ..is after frying the florets we sprinkle them with cumin then layer them into the pot and we use long grain rice..

hi i have a question or two, I am going to make this dish following your recipe..used to eat it growing up made by some dear Palestinian friends,,do you salt the cauliflower before frying or after , if at all, and is it best to deep fry the florets?

Hello Miriam,
I don’t salt the florets, before or after.
I usually deep fry the florets but you can pan fry them or even bake them, it is up to you.
I hope this turns out as good as the one you remember. When you give this a go, I would love to hear what you think of it

I had this at a home visit when I visited Jordan in 2009 – it was wonderful! I’ve tried to make their recipe, but haven’t been too successful. Your recipe looks like a winner and I can’t wait to make it! But I hope that short grain brown rice will work just as well.

Hello Mejanec
I really hope you will enjoy the makloubeh, just keep in mind that the brown rice would require much more water as opposed to the white one, you may want to cook it partially then add the rest of the ingredients because cooking everything in that much water may cause the cauliflower to fall apart

Assalamu alaikum, I love maqluba but usually have a problem when I cook it. I know you posted your recipe a while back but was hoping you wouldnt mind helping me anyway. Usually the top layer of my rice is undercooked; I’m afraid to add a lot of liquid because it may make the bottom part soggy. Do I just add more liquid anyway or should I just put a plate on top while cooking it or do you have any other tips? Thank you so much!

Hello Rashida,
usually short grain rice requires 1 1/2 cups of water or stock per cup of rice. The trick is to add this amount of water then to check the water level. It should be at least 1 cm above the level of the rice.
Another tip is to cover the pot from the beginning and check on it around 20 minutes later, if the water has been mostly absorbed yet the top layer of rice is still undercooked, add an additional 1/2 cup and cover it for 10 more minutes.
You have to keep in mind that once all the water is absorbed, the heat and steam will continue to cook the rice, so turn off the heat and keep the pot covered for at least 15 minutes

So excited to try this recipe tonight. I lived in Jordan as a child and always remembered my grandmother making this along with so many other delicious dishes! But of course nobody ever wrote down the recipes. Lol. I’m happy I found this!